Major breakthrough by teen prodigy Atthaya

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Major breakthrough by teen prodigy Atthaya

By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam 

The Nation

 

Atthaya Thitikul continues to shine on the LPGA tour.

 

ATTHAYA THITIKUL is eyeing a top-15 finish in a major after successfully making the cut at the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, California, on Saturday (Thailand time).

 

The 15-year-old, in her second appearance in a major after the British Open last year, fired a second straight 71 to be two-under-par on 142 at the halfway stage, 10 shots behind the lead.

 

Atthaya, who earned her slot at the year’s opening major by winning the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship in February, is the youngest player to make the cut at Mission Hills this week.

 

She is also one of four Thais – the others are Moriya Jutanugarn, sister Ariya and Pornanong Phatlum – to have qualified to play at the weekend.

 

The Thai prodigy who became the youngest winner of a professional golf tour event at the Ladies European Thailand Championship last year, says her goal is to finish inside the top 15 tomorrow, which would be her best in a major and represent another sign of her swift progress on the LPGA tour.

 

“First I wanted to make the cut but now I have achieved that, my next target is to finish in the top 15,” said the girl from Ratchaburi, whose best finish to date was equal 8th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore last month.

 

However, she says she needed to come up with a good game plan in order to shoot low scores at a course very different from what she has been accustomed to in Asia and Europe.

 

“This is just my third event in the US. The roughs are a bit longer than in Asia and the greens are quite stiff,” added the 2017 SEA Games individual gold medalist. “You need to hit the fairways and stay away from the roughs or you will be in trouble.”

 

Atthaya certainly enjoys setting high goals and shooting a bunch of birdies to break into the top ten tomorrow will be a daunting task.

However she performs, she will once again have to watch all around her picking up sizeable cheques for their efforts while she, as an amateur, cannot – but she says she will be richer for the experience.

 

“I’ve learned that I don’t have to hit the ball with so much power on this type of course,” she said. “I also have to deal with the pressure of trying to make the cut - and I did quite well.” Joint halfway leaders were Park Sung-hyun of South Korea and Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg on 12-under-par 132.

 

Moriya Jutanugarn was the best-placed of the Thai contingent on 140, with sister Ariya one further back and Pornanong one behind Atthaya on 143.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/sports/30342179

 

 

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